​One, two, three strikes, you’re out

by C.S. Hagen | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | News | September 26th, 2017

Republicans fail again to repeal and replace Obamacare

FARGO – If major league baseball rules applied to government, repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act struck out Tuesday afternoon.

Although the current administration’s latest attack against what has come to be known as Obamacare seemed doomed to fail for the third time, after three Republican senators defected, the AFL-CIO and Indivisible FM marched on a state senator’s office an hour before the bill’s failure to drive home the point that not everyone in the state agrees with local leaders.

A day before the Graham-Cassidy Health Care Bill failed, Sens. Bill Cassidy R-LA, and Lindsey O. Graham R-SC, the architects of the bill, were frantically scrounging for the 51 votes needed for the bill to pass. Worries over Medicaid cuts and the millions of people who would lose insurance drove the Republican’s third attempt to failure.

So far, the Grand Old Party has accepted little to no bipartisan cooperation, as they’ve consistently met behind closed doors, springing new bills onto the public with only days leading up to a vote.

Hoeven followed the party line and issued a statement Tuesday saying he would vote in favor of the Graham-Cassidy Health Care Bill.

“Obamacare has raised health care costs and limited choice, which is why we’re working to provide relief for American families,” Hoeven said in a press release. “The legislation repeals and replaces Obamacare and helps restore the ability of Americans to choose the health care coverage that best fits their needs.”

Hoeven reported North Dakota would receive in excess of $1 billion between 2020 and 2026 if the Graham-Cassidy Health Care Bill was passed. Senator Heidi Heitkamp D-ND, said the bill was reckless, and would lead to larger numbers of uninsured Americans with fewer people able to access Medicaid, a “lifesaver” for seniors, children with disabilities, and low-income families.

CNN reported on September 22 that North Dakota would lose between 10 to 15 percent of its funding if the bill were passed. The Washington Post reported North Dakota, along with other states, stood to lose from 35 to 60 percent of federal funding. Media outlets ABC News, CNBC, and AOL News reported the bill failed, and the Republican Party issued a statement saying the party would not vote, effectively killing the repeal push for the foreseeable future.

“The lack of good government just appalls me,” Waylon Hedegaard, president of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, or AFL-CIO, told Alex Finken, Hoeven’s state communications director. “We’ve wasted six months hammering a square peg through a round hole.”

Time and time again President Trump’s Administration has tried to dismantle his predecessor’s healthcare reforms, and yet while politicians on both sides of the aisle realize further changes are needed, there has been little to no bipartisan cooperation since its first failure.

“We need to do this as a country, and not as a party,” Indivisible FM member Cheryl Schaefle said. “We need to step back and work with insurance companies and big pharma as well.”

A total of four representatives from Indivisible FM and AFL-CIO waited to speak to Alex Finken while inside what they called an entrapment, a stifling, narrow room, with a glassed-in window resembling a prison reception room more than a senator’s waiting room.

After making a complaint to Finken about such a cold reception, Finken said the room was designed and finished in July, and was built in such a way due to added security concerns.

Recently in:

FARGO – Nearly half of the Walmart employees claiming discrimination from management at the world’s largest retail chain came before Fargo’s Human Relations Commission Thursday, to appeal for help, and the commission…

I have hesitated in the past to ride into the gaming world with my guns blazing and my hair blowing in the wind. My reasons are many and varied.In my own personal case, I don’t play online or offline games because it is a huge…

What draws people to a particular area? Food? Culture? Nostalgia? It’s hard to speak on behalf of the populace but we obviously know what draws us in as individuals.Here’s another question: What makes an area thrive and what…

Do we finally have ‘beauteous mankind in a brave new world?’British philosopher and writer Aldous Huxley used a line of Miranda’s speech in Shakespeare’s play "The Tempest" as the title for his book about the future…

This year’s Cocktail Showdown yielded a mixture of familiar and fresh faces to compete in the Fifth Annual Bartenders Battle when it returns to the Holiday Inn on Sunday February 18th. With a bright and colorful Tiki theme, we…

By Melissa Martin, Ph.D.
Melissamartincounselor@live.com
Emotional eating refers to a range of behaviors in which individuals eat for reasons other than physiological hunger; and eating is an attempt to self-soothe emotions.…

Whoever said rock n’roll ain’t pretty must have never had the opportunity to speak with Wanda Jackson, often referred to as “the queen of rockabilly” and even the “first lady of rock n’ roll.” The Oklahoma native just…

Given the film’s somewhat odd marriage of style -- the personality-driven presence of chatty neophyte documentarian Bryan Fogel -- and substance -- the ugly realities of the longtime Russian doping program for Olympic competitors…

The Red Raven had their annual opening party for the Erotic Art Show last week, drawing in a sizeable crowd that got to take home free condoms, lubricant, chapstick, and Planned Parenthood pins and brochures.The red candles at each…

By Nathan Roybardsdream@gmail.comYou are absolutely right. The title is not “To be or not to be” from the famous Shakespeare soliloquy in "Hamlet." I won’t be talking about Shakespeare particularly. I will expound the…

Fargo has its share of people who are passionate about stand-up comedy, even if the success of clubs devoted to it has been mixed. Despite the fact we have seen places like Courtney’s Comedy Club and Level 2 Comedy Club close…

“What are some of your favorite bottles of whiskey?” is a question I get asked quite frequently and is often harder to answer than one might think. One of the great rewards of my profession is getting to sample some of the…

Essential oils. They are all the buzz lately. It seems everyone has heard of them or is purchasing them. Some people know how to use them; others are just interested in the wonder of their complex scents.Essential oils are as…

By Elizabeth Nawrotnawrot@mnstate.eduI look up from my hotel lobby breakfast astonished to see a framed print of Wassily Kandinsky's "Mit und Gegen,” a masterpiece of color and composition that just happens to be my favorite…

By Gary Olsonolsong@moravian.eduThe ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas; the class which is the ruling material force in society is at the same time the ruling intellectual force.- Karl Marx and Friedrich…